Virginia’s GOP Governor opposes state DADT law

I had a hard time mustering the energy to write about the buffoon in Virginia’s state legislature who wanted to enact a state-based DADT policy. Living in DC, one gets an extra does of VA state politics and Bob Marshall, said buffoon, is really a showboater. Marshall is the go-to right wing nutjob who will push the most extreme ideas around — and then revel in the attention. He’s probably having orgasms because he got on CNN.

What’s prompted me to write isn’t what Marshall said. It’s the reaction from Virginia’s Republican Governor, Bob McDonnell, to Marshall’s idea on a local radio station, WTOP:

While I disagree with the action the Congress took based on my own experience in the military… we can’t have two different systems in the military and our National Guard.”

Whatever the final guidelines are from the Department of the Defense, I expect the Virginia National Guard Bureau to adhere to them.

McDonnell is a pretty hard-core right-winger, so this is an interesting reaction. Sorta reminds me of NC GOP Senator Richard Burr’s statement about why he voted for the DADT repeal, which Nick Seaver wrote about here.

Joe Sudbay
On October 27, 2010, Joe was one of five bloggers who interviewed President Obama. Joe is a DC-based political consultant with over twenty-five years of experience at both the state and federal level. Joe has managed political operations and legislative efforts for both candidates and issues-based organizations. For seven years, he was the Director of State Legislation at Handgun Control, Inc. He served as that organization's first Political Director during the 2000 cycle. Joe is a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law. In addition, he has a Masters in Public Administration from Lehigh University and received his B.A. from the University of New Hampshire. Joe also has a fun dog, Petey, a worthy successor to Boomer, who got Joe through eight years of Bush and Cheney. Joe likes to think he is a world class athlete having finished the 2005 Chicago Marathon in the time of 4:10. He has completed six other marathons as well -- and is still determined to break the four hour mark.